Prison conditions really bad

Prison conditions are bad, “really really bad,” National Security Minister Martin Joseph conceded yesterday, adding that he was shocked when he visited PoS and Golden Grove. The Women’s Prison was “like a five-star hotel” compared to the other facilities, he noted. Joseph stressed however that Government, which was committed to “the transformation of the prisons,” was moving speedily to address the main problem of severe overcrowding. Government recognised that there was an “immediate solution,” he said. And that solution, he added, lay in making the Maximum Security Prison fully operational. This prison was designed to accommodate 2,400 persons, but currently has only 800 prisoners.

“You don’t have to construct new facilities. All you need to do is take care of some of the shortcomings,” the Minister stated. Government he said, aims to achieve this in “three to four months time.” Joseph said there were some structural deficiencies at the Maximum Security Prison. The inadequate sewerage treatment system was a major one. Bids were currently before the Central Tenders Board in respect of an upgrading of the system, he said. The other main problem was the electronic security system, the Minister said. “It  seemed that the people who installed it left no blueprint. So we are now trying to track the manufacturers to see if it (the system) can be upgraded,” he said.

Noting that the overcrowded situation has prevented prisoners and attorneys from having private visits, Joseph said this was one of the difficulties identified by the local legal fraternity. In order to “ease up” space at the Port-of-Spain prison, Government had also decided that the administrative arm of the Prisons should be moved (from the PoS Prison) to the building previously used by TIDCO on Phillip Street. Joseph said Government was also addressing the high prisoners to prison officers ratio. Noting that it was insufficent supervision which prevented such things like — “airing” (taking the prisoners outside for stipulated times), he said Government had hired an additional 123 prison officers as a first step.

Joseph said there would be the need for about 650 more  prison officers when the Maximum Security Prison is fully occupied. In this regard, the Director of Personnel Administration had recently tested some applicants and were awaiting the results. Joseph said Government agreed in January to allow Amnesty International to visit the prisons. It met with Government officials shortly after that visit to discuss some of its concerns. The official report is due for November.  But before that, Government has an opportunity to put measures to ameliorate conditions, and to detail to Amnesty International what it has done. He said that there was a gap between the departure of Anthony Roberts and the appointment of Fitzgerald Hinds, whose major remit is prison reform. Only yesterday, Hinds was introduced to the executive leadership of the Prison Service. “He is aware of all these things and he would pick up the responsibility (for prison reform) now,” the Minister said.

He said the Maximum Security Prison and the Women’s Prison were the flagships. “POS is a mess, Remand Yard is a mess,” he said, adding that while he hadn’t yet visited Carrera he understood that too was a mess. “The conditions are bad, really really bad. My question is why would somebody want to go back there,” he said. Joseph said the overcrowding was most severe at POS and Golden Grove Joseph said one of the reasons there had been resistance to having visits from organisations such as Amnesty International was because of the fear that they would use the conditions as a basis for getting prisoners off. He said there were 3000 plus inmates in the seven institutions.